Luncheon - Speaker

James White has been the Director of the TexasSeaportMuseumand the beautiful iron barque ELISSA since October 2010.

He has 30 years of experience in the historic sailing ship community, including leading the restoration, rigging and maintenance of dozens of historic vessels and replicas around the U.S. and in the United Kingdom. He has sailed almost 30,000 miles on square-rigged vessels and holds a 100-ton Master's license from the U.S. Coast Guard.

Before becoming director at TexasSeaportMuseumhe was asked to perform a rig survey for insurance and crew on Elissa's 2009 sea trials following the stresses of Hurricane Ike. In 1995, he supervised the rigging restoration of the Moshulu (a massive 1906 four-masted bark inNew Jersey). He served as Master rigger during the restoration of the three-masted bark Glenlee inScotland in 1998.

His principal occupation since 2000 has been Historic Ships Rigging Foreman with the San FranciscoMaritimeNationalHistoricPark, a unit of the National Park Service, where he was responsible for the rigging of a whole fleet of historic ships, including the 1883 full-rigger Balclutha.

He has lectured on the traditional rigging of square-rigged ships at the University ofSt. Andrews, the oldest university inScotland and many yacht clubs and service organizations. He consulted with theBishopMuseuminHonolulu on the rigging of the four-masted full-rigged shipFalls ofClyde, among other projects.

James is a graduate of California State University at Long Beach, where he played varsity football.